Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Lyons, South Dakota

Lyons, SD Car Consumer Discussions

2010 Town & Country

by samnoe on Tue Nov 04 15:35:33 PST 2008

This is part of a report from Detroit News - Mentioning some plans of the minivans future, including V6 engine update, plus electric engines. "Plans include an electric minivan, with lithium-ion batteries in the second-row cargo wells. Chrysler showed a prototype in September, along with an electric Dodge sports car and a Jeep Wrangler EV. The minivan is an "extended-range" vehicle that can run 40 miles on battery alone, with a small gasoline engine to extend that range to about 400 miles. One of the three will be on the road next year as a 2010, the rest a year later, said Doug Quigley, product engineer with ENVI, Chrysler's electric vehicle division. If validation proves the minivan is "most robust soonest," it will lead the charge. GM's extended range Chevrolet Volt is slated for sale in November 2010. An electric minivan would supersede plans for a hybrid minivan, said Frank Klegon, executive vice president of product development. Another upgrade is replacing the aging V-6 engines with the new Phoenix family of more efficient six-cylinders due in 2010. Despite rumors to the contrary, the Phoenix program is on track. Some test minivans have been built with the new engine, said Larry Lyons, vice president of the product team, and last month president Jim Press said he was driving a vehicle with one of the new V-6s..."

Test Drive of Flex

by kkrause on Sun Oct 05 08:21:21 PDT 2008

My wife and I drove a Flex yesterday and were very impressed with it overall. The seats were very comfortable. I'm tall so didn't have a problem with the headrest location. (By the way, the headrests are where they are for safety ... to prevent whiplash. To but them in backwards is a bit risky in the event of a rear-end collision.) Both my wife and I thought the ride quality was excellent and the overall interior space was very good; not quite as good as most minivans but close. The power was also quite good ... it seemed better than both the Highlander and Sienna we had driven earlier in the day. We're still not sure if we are going to purchase a vehicle before the end of the year or not, but if we do the Flex will definitely be a consideration.

Re: autoline-NA truck of the year [62vetteefp]

by imidazol97 on Tue Sep 02 12:39:10 PDT 2008

Picture of dealership with four brands I can't recall how the brands are distributed between the two buildings. I was there car-shopping last October/November and have driven past many times on the way to our niece's family's home a few miles south before they moved. But I can't remember the layout. The group is http://walkerautogroup.com/HomePage and four brands are there: Mitsu, Scion, Toyo, and Pontiac. I was wrong about the GMC. (I still think it used to be Pontiac and GMC.) The four all share the same mailing address but there are two buildings. Sharper eyes than mine can probably tell which new cars are around parts of the two buildings. It's Springboro Pike and Lyons Road, Miamisburg, OH if you care to googleearth it. If dualing means they share the same building, then I used the definition wrong. I don't know which is which building.

Re: Someone needs to let the North Pole know [gagrice]

by vchiu on Thu Jul 10 08:36:27 PDT 2008

>This is a very speculative statement I understand from you position that you are convinced GW/CC is either not a big deal or not man induced. It seems there is a consensus though that human activities do have a strong influence on climate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change#Human_influences_on_climate_change It could be an endless debate because maybe you will require even more drastic climate changes for you to be convinced. (the disappearance of North pole ice cap is the phenomenon who got me understand) Time will tell anyway. > None of the countries that signed onto the original Kyoto have reached the goals set out in that treaty. If they signed, it means they recognized the issue and the need to tackle it. I heard that recently G.W Bush was open to the idea of measured GHG emissions objectives. >The countries that will be contributing the most in the near future, China and India are not going to be tied to any restraints that slow economic growth. Clean / oil less technologies are a factor of growth. China have understand that and is building Photovoltaics production facilities at brisk pace. China has already a wide offer on electric cars. Reliance on oil is restraining economic growth. Clean technologies are an incredible opportunity for the US. All now is in the will to grab it. >The USA is buried in debt trying to be the World policeman and cannot afford to finance these wild programs of cutting GHG. 1) it is all about priorities. Most of the money burnt is in Iraq. Financing of this should have been given to private venture only and not the taxpayer's money. What will be left of all the money flared ? 2) All the programmes I proposed are 100% investment and no spending. As a result, we should get measurable assets under the form of infrastructures or key technical advance. We will get measurable improvements in life quality and transport speeds while saving money. > Most alternatives to our energy problems, that may cut GHG, will add to our trade deficit. Isn't oil one of the largest source of trade deficit ? how lowering oil consumption (hence imports) is going to increase trade deficit? Heavily investing in clean technologies in the US means developing domestic clean technologies. These are tomorrow's jobs. You prefer to abandon such jobs to China ? >Can high speed trains compete with air travel for distances up to 500 miles or more? it is considered that below 2 hours of train journey, air travel will disappear (this happened when Paris to Lyon TGV was opened in 1981 in just 2 hours. Up to 3 hours, train remain competitive and will grab up to 75% marketshare depending on tarrifs (Paris to Strasbourg, Paris to Marseille) Over 3 hours, plane is increasingly taking advantage, taking the majority above 4 or 5 hours journey. the 3 hour -journey time is a reference, because when taking the plane and unless departure and destination being close to airports, we generally add 2-3 hours for check-in, security, luggage pick-up, waiting, transit from and to airport on top of actual flying duration. with new generation high speed trains with a cruise speed of 225mph (360 km/h) I see a real case for an atlantic line from Portland to Miami http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:High-Speed_Rail_Corridor_Designations.png While we would not expect many people going end to end, there is enough population to keep this line busy. A link between the NY area and the great lakes would make sense too. A california high speed train has been in discussion for so long to the point it is ridiculous. There are enough key cities and population to grant a heavy load on this line. High speed train (HST) are all electrics so no emission (unless factoring the power plants producing electricity) Steel on steel rolling means very little friction thus little lost power in comparison to any ground transport HST success rely on the ability to offer competitive journey times in regard to air travel, but much more comfort and practical aspects. a Railway station is easy to integrate in a built-up environment. such can't be said for an airport. In relation to cars, HST boast much much higher average speeds and much more safety against accidents. We can do other activities while on the train (reading, eating, playing). Many people do the same behind the wheel and no wonder there are so many deaths on the roads.

Keeping it Real for now...

by circlew on Tue Jul 08 10:12:10 PDT 2008

While it’s difficult to find the silver lining in $4 a gallon gasoline, high gas prices actually do have an upside. From single inventors to large companies, everyone is now scrambling to find ways to improve fuel economy – something that will benefit all of us in a few years. One such company in France’s MCE-5 Development, a research firmed based out of Lyon. MCE-5 is currently working to develop gasoline and diesel engine technology that will return the economy of a hybrid at a fraction of the cost. “It’s possible to have the fuel efficiency of a hybrid for one-tenth the cost,” Vianney Rabhi, director of strategy and development for MCE-5, told Business Week. “Even if there’s a big step in battery development, hybrids will be costly.” MCE-5’s technology is similar to General Motor’s HCCI and Mercedes-Benz’ DiesOtto technology – which basically runs a gasoline engine as a diesel — but also incorporates a few other tricks, such as Variable Compression Ratio. The result is a 1.5L naturally aspirated engine that produces 220 horsepower and still returns 45 mpg. MCE-5 thinks automakers will stick with internal combustion engines for the “next 20 to 30 years”, so new technology to make them more efficient will be critical. Despite the advances, mass production of these new technologies is still probably another 8 to 10 years away. However, if automakers decide to combine MCE-5’s technology with a hybrid powertrain, a 65+ mpg car wouldn’t be out of the question. It's all relative to continuous improvement so gas prices remaining high only helps accelrate the needed changes. Regards, OW

Invicta show car / 2010 LaCrosse

by 62vetteefp on Tue Apr 15 04:36:21 PDT 2008

General Motors Corp.’s Buick evokes the past when it unveils a new, low-roofline, 4-door concept car at next week’s Beijing auto show dubbed the Invicta. The concept car builds on the look and feel of the recent Buick Riviera coupe concept unveiled at last year’s Shanghai auto show, says Dave Lyons, who is responsible for the brand’s interior design in North America but also recently worked for Buick in Asia. “Above all, (it says) ‘graceful,’” Lyons says when asked for an adjective to describe the Invicta, as well as the design language of other recent Buicks. The Riviera design cues found on the Invicta include the car’s flowing, curvaceous lines, including Buick’s signature waterfall grille and the continuation of a “spa-like” interior. “It’s pretty easy to make a coupe look good, but the market in both countries (U.S. and China) is more (centered) around 4-door sedans,” Lyons says. Buick is “very serious about the design cues” of the Invicta, which will make their way to a production model, although he can’t say which one. Lyons also does not pinpoint the level of Chinese involvement in the vehicle but says Buick’s designers in China were integral to bringing the Invicta to fruition. Buick “couldn’t have done” the concept without their collaboration. “I’m sure at some point we’ll have a full story on who did what, but this really was a joint project between the Shanghai studio and the studio here in Michigan,” Lyonds says, adding there were an “an awful lot of conference calls early in the morning” from the U.S. to China.